a little book of wisdom
remember to breathe
contents
1 4 7 9 11 13 17 20 22 23 25
mindfulness breath stillness suffering acceptance love presence realisation and choice gratitude sunshine MBAT resources
mindfulness 1
Mindfulness is shifting the mindset from ‘thinking mind’ to ‘observing mind’ -Noah Rasheta, Secular Buddhism
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Three characteristics of existence Impermanence – everything changes Human existence entails suffering There is no inherent, unchangeable self
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breath
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Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment! -Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step
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-Yumi Sakugawa
stillness
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Resting in Stillness
When you rest in stillness, you notice the momentum of your habits and urges, but you don’t act on them. You actually experience the moment – the feel of the wind on your skin, subtle sounds you never noticed before. You can tell what your body wants and needs. You are here, alive, receptive. It’s both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. The exploration of stillness is also meditation. All it takes is a few minutes, and you will begin to see the benefits and potential. Simply sit down, close your eyes, and be. Don’t try to stop your thoughts or change anything. Just be the awareness that everything arises in. Even to suggest that you notice is too strong. Expend no effort at all. Simply be aware and let things unfold. Thoughts and physical sensations appear, feelings arise…just allow everything without getting in the way. That’s all there is to it. Be this period of non-doing for a few minutes or longer. Be it even when what appears is painful or challenging. Relaxing into stillness is caring, softening; you are letting go of the need to do, to resist, to control.
You simply be. -Dr Gail Brenner 8
suffering
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I am sad that I’m sad is more sad than just being sad -Noah Rasheta
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acceptance
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If you run away, the monster chases you but if you turn and face it, it runs away -Ruby Wax
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love
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Relationship Mantras 1. Darling, I'm here for you. 2. Darling, I know you're there. 3. Darling, I know you suffer, that is why I'm here for you. 4. Darling, I suffer. Please help me. -Thich Nhat Hanh
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Four elements of true love 1. Loving-kindness 2. Compassion 3. Joy 4. Equanimity -Thich Nhat Hanh
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Love after Love The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other’s welcome. And say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was yourself. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. -Derek Walcott, See Grapes, 1976
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presence 17
Non-Duality The bell tolls at four in the morning. I stand by the window, barefoot on the cool floor. The garden is still dark. I wait for the mountains and rivers to reclaim their shapes. There is no light in the deepest hours of the night. Yet, I know you are there in the depth of the night, the immeasurable world of the mind. You, the known, have been there ever since the knower has been. The dawn will come soon, and you will see that you and the rosy horizon are within my two eyes. It is for me that the horizon is rosy and the sky blue. Looking at your image in the clear stream, you answer the question by your very presence. Life is humming the song of the non-dual marvel. I suddenly find myself smiling in the presence of this immaculate night. I know because I am here that you are there, and your being has returned to show itself in the wonder of tonight's smile.
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In the quiet stream, I swim gently. The murmur of the water lulls my heart. A wave serves as a pillow I look up and see a white cloud against the blue sky, the sound of Autumn leaves, the fragrance of hayeach one a sign of eternity. A bright star helps me find my way back to myself. I know because you are there that I am here. The stretching arm of cognition in a lightning flash, joining together a million eons of distance, joining together birth and death, joining together the known and the knower. In the depth of the night, as in the immeasurable realm of consciousness, the garden of life and I remain each other's objects. The flower of being is singing the song of emptiness. The night is still immaculate, but sounds and images from you have returned and fill the pure night. I feel their presence. By the window, with my bare feet on the cool floor, I know I am here for you to be. -Thich Nhat Hanh, 'Call Me By My True Names'
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realisation and choice
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Autobiography in Five Short Chapters I. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost ... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out. II. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place but, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. III. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it's a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. IV. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. V. I walk down another street. -Portia Nelson
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gratitude sunshine
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mindfulness-based art therapy
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resources podcasts Resignation vs. acceptance: https://secularbuddhism.com/acceptance-vsresignation/
YouTube Vidyamala Burch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X64ZMndWseA Thich Nhat Hanh at Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=CGWY1W1PDI8
websites https://orderofinterbeing.org/ https://plumvillage.org/ https://secularbuddhism.com/
books Ruby Wax, How to Be Human: The Manual Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is every step Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Communicating Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living
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a little book of wisdom compiled in winter 2018
this book has been compiled by a group of participants on an 8-week participatory mindfulness course in Exeter. The work was a form of research impact, funded and supported by the University of Exeter and South West Doctoral Training Partnership of the Economic and Social Research Council.
